The Mahogany Ship (Sam Reilly Book 2) (18 page)

Ahead of him, Sam found his father dragging the cable over
his shoulder.

He caught up quickly and switched on his high powered, rock
penetrating sonar so he could see the images of any heavy metals below.

The two swam on.

Like its surface siblings, the subterranean river meandered
side to side as it searched for the easiest means of travelling towards the
ocean hundreds of miles away.

By the third corner, nothing was visible below with his
naked eyes, but the sonar monitor displayed something.

It was the outline of a staff, about six feet long. And next
to it, a sheet of metal, no larger than a piece of A4 writing paper.

“I think we found it, Dad.”

James looked at the monitor.

“Either that, or we found its twin.”

The two swam another twenty feet below the water, where the
Ark of Light lay entirely buried by two centuries of river silt.

Sam withdrew four inflatable bags from his duffle bag and
carefully attached them to the Ark of Light, still mostly buried.

His father, impatient as always, tried vainly to lift the
scepter by hand so that he could better examine it. But in the soft river bed,
his feet were unable to obtain enough perch to lift it.

Sam slowly filled each bag with the air from his dive
regulator. “We’ve waited a lifetime to see this, Dad. Surely it won’t kill you to
wait until we get it back to the cave before we examine it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” James said; his hand stabilizing
the now buoyant Ark of Light, and attaching the cable to the end of it.

Sam studied the monitor of his sonar again to make certain
he hadn’t missed anything. “What about this?”

His dad looked over his shoulder, and said, “Looks like a
really old piece of paper, to me. What do you think, the instructions for the
weapon?”

“I doubt it. But if Jack Robertson thought it was important
enough to go to the trouble of taking it with him, there must be something to
it.”

“You’re right, go see if you can find it below all that
silt, and I’ll start bringing this to the surface.

Sam fished his hands through the soft silt until he found
what he was looking for. It was made of brass, and despite the filth of being
submerged for so many years, Sam could clearly see the writings painstakingly
chiseled into it.

And they were written in the ancient text of the Master
Builders.

He couldn’t make out every word. He would need Billie’s help
for that, but he could make out enough of them to understand the purpose of the
message.

The Ark of Light must be returned to its rightful place, on
top of the great pyramid of Giza, by Midday of… Winter…S…. in the year 2020
before the end of this cycle. To be activated, it must be joined with its other
siblings, or it will not work.

It then listed four locations.

The first three he couldn’t quite make out, but the last
one, he’d certainly heard of.

Atlantis.

Sam put the brass tablet in his duffle bag and quickly swam
to catch up with his father.

By the time he reached the cave, his father was already
trying to drag the heavy Ark of Light on to the beach of the cave.

Sam helped him lift it onto the beach, and then explained to
his father what the note Barloc had left, said.  

“Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” James stood up, ready
to leave the cave. “It’s taken me sixty eight years to locate this device, only
to discover that it needs to be armed with four other relics before it will
show me the way – and the only one we’ve even heard of has been thought to be
nothing more than a legend by the world’s best archeologists.”

“All right dad, let’s get this thing up top, and see what
Aliana’s doing. Then we can work out what our next move is.”

It took all their strength to drag it to the top of the cave
and out into the open.

At the edge of the tree line, Aliana appeared still as a
rock.

“Aliana,” Sam called out. “We did it!”

It was then that she turned around and mouthed something to
him. He couldn’t quite see what she was trying to say, until it was too late,
but he could see the sickening expression on her face.

“Oh shit!” James said, realization hitting him faster, and
throwing himself on Sam.

A moment later, the powerful staccato of the UZIs raked the
ground they were standing on.

The two fell, head first, down the cave.

Sam, rolled as he landed and quickly looked around the room
to see how he could arm himself. He surprised by the speed his father had
reacted.

“You all right, son?”  

“Fine, but they’ve got Aliana!”

“We’ll get her back,” James reassured him.

They heard the sound of the machine gun raking the entrance
of the cave, and the two quickly dived into the water.

Above, they heard the sound of someone entering the cave and
shooting over the top of the water. Bullets, slowed by the drag of water, fell
harmlessly above them.

After a couple minutes, Sam heard a loud bang, as a grenade
destroyed the roof of the cave, leaving them in complete darkness.

*

Aliana watched in horror as the man she loved was buried
alive for the second time in a week. And she wondered if he could possibly be
lucky enough to survive it twice. That was, if the blast hadn’t killed him
already. Her thoughts then turned to the man who’d betrayed him, Michael
Rodriguez. Her anger rose as she considered the sinister, power hungry man,
behind the friendly façade.

“Aliana, how lovely it is to see you again.” She recognized
the voice instantly.

“Rodriguez. You surprise me. I thought a man of your caliber
wouldn’t stoop to get your hands dirty? When I saw your lackeys, I guessed,
they were under your orders, but hadn’t expected to see you here, too.”

Michael dipped his hat, and said, “Your words compliment me,
greatly. I’ve always prided myself on being willing to get involved in every
aspect of my work – even when that involves, getting them dirty, as you say.
Besides, as a mining magnate, it’s my duty to return an area of destruction to
its normal view after it has been mined. My men just removed that ugly eyesore
from the ground, where a hole once was.”

“You can call it what you will – you just murdered Sam
Reilly and his father. Although you may not have considered it, I’m sure that
sort of thing comes with some serious repercussions.”

“It is, as you say, frowned upon in civilized society to
kill a billionaire and his brat son, but hey, out here, they’re just a couple
of guys in the middle of the woods, am I right?” Rodriguez laughed, as though
he were having a casual conversation with a neighbor. “If you must know. I
never had any intention to murder Sam. He’s a bright man. I would have gladly
let him continue to think he’d discovered the Mahogany Ship, while his old man
and I conducted our business. But the kid just couldn’t let it go, could he? He
was too smart, and had to figure it all out. Heck, I still can’t work out how
he escaped last time.”

Aliana looked at Rodriguez – he was talking to himself more
than her – and wondered if she could kill him before either of his two goons
with AK 47s noticed.

But how?

“Have you said your good byes to your dear Sam Reilly?”

“No, his father taught me that Sam’s not an easy man to get
rid of. I think you’ll find that they’re both far more resilient than you give
them credit for.”

“Confidence. I like to see that in a woman!” Rodriguez said.
“Good for you. I wonder how long it will last, after I keep you to see
firsthand the power revealed by the Ark of Light. After all, I’m soon to bring
a new global order. Like it or not, you may as well start obeying me now.”

It was Aliana’s turn to laugh. “New global order. I thought
you were a common thief and murderer, but I see that you’re just crazy.”

“Laugh now, but you may as well accept your boyfriend’s
dead, and I’m about to change the course of history.” Rodriguez, seeing that
his story wasn’t entertaining anyone but himself, turned to his men, and said,
“Stay here, cover it properly, make sure no one’s ever going to mistake it for
the entrance to something. I want it buried properly. And then I’ll be waiting
for you with the plane in Sydney.”

“Understood, boss.”   

Rodriguez then took out a large handgun and pointed it at Aliana.
If she’d known anything about weapons, she’d have known that it was a Smith and
Wesson .500 Magnum, the most powerful production handgun in existence. Recently
advertised as the weapon of choice as, “A Hunting Handgun for any Game Animal,”
due to its ability to take down an elephant at a reasonable distance.

Aliana didn’t need to know that, though. She saw Rodriguez’s
cheery face and knew that he meant business. “Now, we can do this my way, or
the hard way. Frankly, I don’t mind my women difficult. They all come around,
soon enough, even the rich ones, with enough incentive.”

Aliana didn’t want to give him any chance to physically
display his power over her. She stepped up into the large Mercedes 6x6.
Rodriguez followed after her and, taking out a pair of cable ties, locked her
wrists together.

“Nothing personal, dear, but I can’t have you causing me
trouble while I’m driving. You understand, it’s just not safe.”

She said nothing, and Rodriguez started back the way he
came.

Aliana took one last look at the buried land behind her,
where the man she loved had disappeared.

Tom drove down the dry, corrugated, dirt road into Barmah
National Park. It had taken him slightly longer than he’d expected, but at
least he wouldn’t be an obvious target since leaving the Super Huey in Echuca.
Driving along the edge of the Murray-Darling River, Tom pulled off the beaten
road, and into the rough scrub, towards where he’d left his friends. On the
horizon, two large dust clouds reached for the sky. They were most likely four
wheel drives, heading off to go hunting in the kangaroo filled dusk.

He followed his GPS until it assured him he was at the right
spot.

There was nothing around. Admittedly, there was very little
around when he’d left, but now he couldn’t see any remnants of the hole that
James had created when he blew an entrance to the river below.

He parked the old Holden Utility about twenty feet from
where he was certain the hole had been when he left, and then got out of the
car. It was approaching dusk, and the sullen color of the sky played tricks on
people.

Tom checked his hand-held GPS again, and confirmed he was in
the right spot. He then stepped over the ground and noticed that the sand was
soft, as though recently disturbed.

Up ahead, he noticed the deep four-wheel drive tracks in the
sand.

He then recalled the dust clouds on the horizon as he drove
in –
Rodriguez’s men!
 

There wasn’t much time.

Tom grabbed a shovel and started digging.   

He’d dug no more than a foot before hitting something solid,
with a loud clank. Steel – someone had laid a steel frame over the remains of
the hole and then backfilled it with sand to make it look like nothing had ever
happened.

If they’d gone to the lengths to do so, Tom had a fair idea
why.

He ran back to the Utility, and ran a twenty-foot chain from
his tow bar to the steel covering, running a hook through an attachment point.

Then ran back to his vehicle and floored its old, and
powerful, V8 engine.

His tires slipped in the soft soil, and then caught, and the
entire steel plate, along with sand on top, pulled away.

Tom pulled over and ran back.

Where Sam and James were clawing their way back up the hole
in the ground.

James grinned through the dirt on his grubby face, and said,
“What took you so long, Tom? We’ve got work to do.”

*

Sam jumped into the driver’s side of the car. Not waiting to
fill Tom in with what had happened, he said, “They’ve got a twenty-minute head
start on us, and they’ve got Aliana.”

“Shuffle over son, I’ll drive,” James said, pushing his way
in front of the steering wheel, forcing Sam to slide further down the old bench
seat.

“Whatever… let’s just go,” Sam replied, urgently.

James had his foot down, testing just how fast the old
muscle car could go. In the wide-open, desolate land, the poor handling and
poor cornering didn’t matter. The powerful V8 was in its prime, and the car
quickly sped up to 65 miles per hour and on to 80.

They were following the only other tracks in the otherwise
barren land.

By the time it was dark outside, they could see the tail
lights of a car up ahead. The car seemed to be travelling at a normal speed,
probably comforted in the knowledge that they had already won the battle.

“Say, Sam, do you have a plan what we’re going to do when we
catch up to these guys, or do you just want to wing it?”

“I’m all for winging it. Dad, if you can get closer, then start
to overtake the car, and then swerve into its rear left axle, we might just
send that top-heavy truck onto its roof. Then, the three of us jump out and
kill whoever’s driving, while he’s still confused about what happened – and
save the girl.” Sam looked at his father who said nothing, but looked like he’d
raised an idiot. “What, you have a better idea? We didn’t bring any weapons,
and it’s not like we’ve time to go back and get them.”

“As a matter of fact, son. I do.” James then looked at Tom
and asked, “Did you leave that wooden box in the back of the cargo tray?”

“Yeah, why?”

“See if the two of you can climb back there and open it.”

“What’s in it?” Sam asked.

“Open it up, I’m sure you’ll know what to do with them.”

Sam began following Tom, who had climbed out through the
passenger window, over the roof and into the cargo tray behind. When he was
half way out, the left front tire struck something, hard – sending the car
violently swerving towards the left, where it fishtailed for a hundred or so
feet and then kept going.

His hand clutching onto the roof like a vice, he held on
long enough for the centrifugal force to stop, and then he was flung back
inside as James regained control.

“Next time, a little warning would be nice.”

“See what I can do, but no promises, son.”

Sam quickly climbed into the back of the utility, where he
found Tom grinning like a kid who’d just discovered his father’s firecrackers.

“What is it, Tom?”

“Well, in a country with severe restrictions on firearms,
your father managed to bring these with him – just in case,” Tom said, opening
the wooden box.

“Holy shit! 

Inside were two M9 bazookas, an M60 machine gun, and a large
sawn-off shotgun.

“What does Dad want us to do, blow Aliana up?” Sam then
tapped on the back window and said, “Hey, did you bring anything here that we
can actually use?”

“Hey, I thought you two were a couple of old boy scouts – I
brought the hardware, you decide what you want to do with it.”

“All right, all right… just get us a little closer, and then
hold us steady.”

Sam then picked up the M9.

“Are you kidding me? That thing has an armor piercing head,
designed to take out a tank. I thought you liked this girl?”

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of hitting their vehicle.
Now load me.”

Behind him, Tom fed the 2.36 inch rocket into its back and
armed the weapon. “You’re good.”

Sam looked through the cross hairs of the bazooka’s
telescope, aimed, and squeezed the firing trigger.

A large plume of orange flame gushed from the back of the
rocket, as it hurled towards the Mercedes up ahead.

Missing the vehicle by half a foot, the rocket found its
target – a large rock up in front and to the left of the truck.

The missile head penetrated the rock, and then exploded a
moment later.

The driver of the Mercedes swerved, but he was too late, and
the blast shockwave threw the car on its side, where it rolled several times
and then came to a stop on its roof.

Sam’s father slammed on the brakes, coming to a stop just
beside the destroyed Mercedes.

Tom looked down at the wreckage. “I don’t know Sam; I think
Aliana’s still going to be pretty pissed at you.”

Sam grabbed the heavy M60 like it was a toy, and said, “Come
on, before they realize what’s happened,” and jumped off the back of the
Utility’s cargo tray.

He opened the front door, and had the weapon pointed at the
driver’s head an instant later. Sam recognized the man as being the engineer
named Byron. He looked confused, and there was more than a trickle of blood
coming out the man’s ears as he looked up. A quick scan of the inside of the
vehicle showed that the man was alone.

Sam dragged him out, and away from the burning car, “Where
is she? Where does he have Aliana?” The man didn’t say a word.

Sam punched him in the gut, careful to avoid accidentally
killing him in anger before he got what he wanted. Byron then vomited blood,
but said nothing. He was either too injured to speak or was refusing. Either
way, the man was useless to him.

Sam didn’t have time to deal with him – he needed answers.

“The Merc’s empty and there’s nothing that suggests where
the other one went,” Tom said.

“All right, they must have taken multiple cars. Let’s keep
following the tracks and…” Sam stopped talking, as he spotted a Mercedes coming
at him at full speed.

He and Tom both pulled out their M9 machine guns and started
firing at the driver. The bullets appeared to disappear into the truck’s outer
shell harmlessly.

Rodriguez had obviously paid top dollar for military grade
armor.

Sam recognized the driver as Frank, the dwarf-like miner
who’d helped him locate the fake Mahogany Ship. The man looked crazy as he
drove towards them, a sense of invincibility radiating as the rapid fire
bullets raked his windscreen.

Frank’s intention was clear – he was going to run them both
down.

Sam looked about, only to realize that they had left it too
late, and had nowhere to take cover.

The truck came hurtling towards them.

They dropped their weapons as they began running towards the
Holden. Behind them, they heard the crunch as the truck drove straight through
Byron, who had been too confused to know what was going to happen to him.

Sam expected his own bones to crunch in a split second.

Then he saw the flash and turned.

The tank piercing M9 rocket had burned its way inside the
Mercedes’s engine block. A split second later the entire thing erupted in a
ball of fire and shrapnel.

Behind him, James, put the bazooka down and said, “Boom –
look at that thing explode!”

*

Sam wasted no time trying to plan his next move. With the
remains of both six-wheelers still burning, the three men got back into the
Holden and continued to follow the trail.

Picking up his cell, Sam called Elise.

“Hello, Sam.” The voice sounded younger than he’d imagined.
More like a girl in her early twenties than a woman. He’d never actually spoken
to her. In fact, he’d often wondered whether Elise was simply an alias. In the
years that he’d used her services, he’d always done so through a secure internet
connection at her direction. “You must be in trouble.” she said.

She had intentionally kept their relationship untraceable,
but given him the number to call, if he ever became desperate.

Now was one of those times.

“You were right. Rodriguez is an asshole, and he’s taken
Aliana. I need you to find him before he leaves the country.”

“Okay. Where was he last seen?” she asked. Sam could hear
her feverishly tapping away at her keyboard, most likely accessing a number of
overhead satellites.

“He was driving a grey six-wheel Mercedes, somewhere near
our current location, about half an hour ago. I’ll just read you my GPS
coordinates.”

“Don’t bother, I’ve already acquired them from your cell phone.”

Sam gripped the edge of the car for stability, as his father
swung around another corner.

“Oh, Sam, what have you been doing?” Elise said, as if she
were admonishing a child. “You’ve left two burning trucks, and at least one
dead person… there’ll be an investigation, you know.”

“We can deal with that later. Right now, I need to know
where Rodriguez has gone – can’t you track Aliana’s cell phone or something?”

“No, it’s signal disappeared about twenty miles to the
north, presumably where she was captured, perhaps? Hang on, I’m trying
something else… okay, got it.”

“Where?”

“Someone’s started warming up the engines on his jet at
Bendigo airport…”

“But is Aliana there?”

“No, but if its engines are turning over, they must be
expecting him. I’ll run a search within fifty miles of the airport.”

James turned on to the blacktop and headed towards Bendigo.
The speedometer, Sam noticed, was creeping upwards, and was reaching for a
hundred miles per hour.

“Okay, found him. He’s thirty miles out of Bendigo.”

Sam pulled out the GPS on his phone. “We’re 80 miles away. There’s
no way we’re going to make it in time. Can you stall the plane’s takeoff?”

Elise laughed, “I appreciate the vote of confidence, Sam,
but there’s nothing I can do to convince a privately own A380 that it doesn’t
want to take off.”

“What about the police? Can you send them a false terrorist
threat or something?”

“That could be arranged, not that it would do much good. The
airport is empty and the nearest police are 80 miles away.”

The Holden started to shudder with vibrations as it reached
the 100 mile-per-hour mark.

“All right, we’ll try our best. Can you find if they’ve
lodged a flight plan, maybe we can cut him off at his destination?”

“Sorry, nothing logged yet.”

“Okay, thanks Elise, call me back as soon as you know
anything.”

“Will do.”

Forty-five minutes later, they arrived at the back runway of
the Bendigo airport.

At the far end of the airport, the gigantic, specialized,
A380 looked unnatural in its surroundings. In fact, had it been the standard,
commercial model, the plane would have had nowhere near enough runway to take
off, but Rodriguez had obviously had it built specifically to decrease its
takeoff distance.

“There!” Sam pointed it out before they’d even driven into
the grounds of the airport.

James turned the car and drove straight through the wired
fence designed to keep wildlife off the runway, “I see them.”  

Giant dust spirals, fifty feet high, were forming, behind
the airbus.

“They’re getting ready to take off!” James said.

And then it started moving towards them.

Sam reached for his machine gun, and pointed it towards the
front of the plane.

The plane began picking up speed.

His finger began squeezing the trigger.

Tom pulled it downward, and a number of bullets sprayed the
ground ahead. “It’s started the takeoff. Anything you do now will just get her
killed!”

James, pulled the car off to the side of the runway, as the
nose of the plane left the runway.

Sam swore and punched the dashboard. “We lost her!”

He felt Tom’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right, we’ll
find out where they’re headed, and then someone will be waiting for them when
they land.”